JOIN USOnePlus 8T: Useful upgrades from predecessor
On unboxing, the just-launched OnePlus 8T has one major upgrade that is hard to miss even before powering up the set -- the jumbo 65 W warp charger.
It is not just the big charger it gets but that the USB Type-A port has been done away with at the charger end. It is now a Type-C port. This charger can be used to charge compatible laptops and tablets too. The 8T’s fully drained 4500 mAh battery can be charged to 100% in just 39 minutes.
The new 65 W charger does what has been stated by OnePlus, and is practically very useful if you are a person constantly on the go and can’t keep waiting for the phone to charge.
Even with the 65W charger and rapid charging rate, there was hardly any heating.
The OnePlus 8T -- there will be no 8T Pro -- has the X55 5G modem with the flagship Qualcomm Snapdragon 865 processor and the Adreno 650 graphics processing and there is no change from the previous set. However, the second big revelation is that the 8T gets a 120 Hz display, up from 90 Hz in its predecessor. The 6.55-inch AMOLED display is now flat as opposed to the curved edge earlier. One problem with curved displays is the user’s fingers making unintentional contact with the screen while just holding it. There are less chances of this happening with a flat screen. So, a welcome change.
The display has a resolution of 2400x1080 pixels, thus giving it a figure of 402 ppi.
Coming to the other physical differences, the camera setup is a bit different. While the 8 had three lenses in a vertical setup, the 8T gets a quad camera setup and a dual LED flash as well.
The main camera setup consists of a 48 MP shooter with image stabilisation and a Sony IMX586 sensor (aperture f/1.7), a 16 MP ultra-wide with a Sony IMX481 sensor (aperture f/2.2), a 5 MP macro camera and a 2MP monochrome lens. The front has a 16 MP camera with image stabilisation and a Sony IMX471 sensor (aperture f/2.4). The ones with the Sony sensors are obviously the better shooters, but the others are not very far behind.
When it comes to the internal storage, there is a choice of UFS 3.1 128 GB or 256 GB and RAM options are LPDDR4X 8GB or 12GB.
The 8T gets Android 11 out of the box. Some touches like the red icon next to the black text in the Settings menu are nice to see. Overall, the OxygenOS is easy to use and the 120 Hz refresh rate and the 12 GB of RAM our review set had made it easy to use. That said, along with the flagship Snapdragon chipset, it was a breeze for everyday tasks. Even for resource intensive tasks like gaming, the 8T did not show any signs of fatigue.
The front and back are Corning Gorilla Glass 5 and the frame is aluminium. The 8T is only marginally heavier -- 8 grams to be precise -- than its predecessor and feels nice to hold. Unlike earlier sets, the glass back is not slippery.
The 8T has stereo speakers and the sound quality is good. The midrange and high frequencies are reproduced well, but the speakers begin to give up a bit when the volume is turned up.
Overall, a few nice upgrades. If one needs a nice display either for gaming or is in the creativity field, an upgrade to the 8T might be worth it. There aren’t massive upgrades from the 8T’s predecessor but the charging and non-curved screen are welcome changes.
The OnePlus 8T will be available in two colours -- Aquamarine Green and Lunar Silver -- at Rs 45,999 (12 + 256) and Rs 42,999 (8 + 128).